So how did I end up being at the Democratic Party event where Hillary Clinton introduced her Vice Presidential running mate Tim Kaine?

Photo by Dr Matthew Hill

I have spent the last two weeks in the US looking at documents relating to Anglo-American relations during the 1930s and 1940s, in particular at disputes between the two countries regarding sovereignty over certain Pacific Islands, and to find out more about what happened I have looked at State Department documents in the National Archives in Washington, DC.

Another aspect of this research is looking at the way in which civil aviation drove and participated in US foreign policy during this period: the Pacific Islands were perfect refuelling spots for the commercial transpacific air routes, and the main player in this was Pan American Airways, known to us as Pan-Am, the archives for which happen to be in Miami!

I completed my research on Friday and was looking for something to do on Saturday before I left to come home, and I’d seen that Clinton had nominated Kaine and would be introducing him to the world at a rally in Miami. So, with nothing else to do, I decided to go.

Photo by Dr Matthew Hill

It was a fascinating insight into political rallies. I got to the stadium, waited in line and chatted with others in the queue in the searing heat. Once through security I walked around the floor to get a feel of the place and it was buzzing. I chose a seat at the back; we had over two hours to wait and I needed to sit down.

I probably managed to find the only other non-voter in the audience; an Indian woman doing her PhD at Florida International University. With our combined healthy cynicism we critiqued the warm up speakers, and when one “doubled-down” on his prayers for Clinton I smiled. Another spoke rather eloquently on the need for healthcare, recounting how her mother had to move to Canada to afford lifesaving support.

Then Clinton came on and gave a great rebuttal of the divisive Republican National Convention in Cleveland that was held last week. In reacting to Trump’s “I alone can fix it”, she said that “we are stronger together”. She even likened his position as akin to what dictators do. And with a large number of the audience being Cuban-Americans this message was a home run.

She then introduced Tim Kaine, the senator from Virginia as her running mate. He did a good stump speech about where he came from and what his values are. With over 20 years’ experience being a mayor, governor and senator he has the experience and credentials to do well. This was further reinforced with his ability to speak Spanish (the Hispanic vote is important in a key state such as Florida) and being a former civil rights lawyer.

Photo by Dr Matthew Hill

In choosing a safe and not too progressive pair of hands Clinton is looking to appeal to the independents. Whether she can count on the Bernie Sanders supporters depends on how progressive a platform she proposes at next week’s Democratic Party convention: she can’t afford to assume their votes. Whether this turns out to be a strategic success or failure time will tell. My guess is that they’ll turn out in sufficient numbers for her because they see the alternative as too much of a dystopian nightmare.

So what’s it like to work on a tech startup? We asked Graphic Design and Illustration graduate Jonathan Summers-Muir

I never planned to work in a startup, and nothing can really prepare you for it. It is probably best summed up as a normal day essentially feeling like a constant crisis. Once one fire has been put out, another miraculously forms and whatever victory you were yesterday celebrating has already been long forgotten.

I’ve only worked in a few startups though, but still, one of the key things I’ve learned throughout it all is that the project is ultimately doomed if the staff don’t get along. A good team is made up of staff where the borderlines of their job description are blurred. All that matters is improving the key metric of the business; get more users, more sales, more signups and so on.

Everyone needs to accept that at some point, you have to spend long hours doing incredibly menial tasks, updating a spreadsheet with what feels like a million rows or copying 600 product specs by hand just to move the needle a bit further.

It can all be, and usually is, for nothing. The sad truth is, your ideas are overrated. Anyone anywhere can end up being a competitor, or will race you to market. The trick is to be able to run and test faster than them.

“A good team can test a market quickly, and, more importantly, abandon the project quickly when you can prove there is little room to make profit.”

Once up and running though, it’s easy to start building the wrong features for the wrong users. Adding too many will leave you and your team maintaining a monster that will, over time, become a burden with little reward. It’s easy to get drawn into building a solution that works for absolutely everyone in every situation.

That is a stupid way to work.

You don’t need to build a product or service that works for every scenario: it will alienate the larger base of users you can actually profit from. In one circumstance I recall, we made a G9 Led Bulb search page that overwhelmed our users with technical waffle as we reckoned this would work for both the technical early adopters and the broad non-technical users. All we did was convince the non-tech users to abandon our website, rather than explore it. The early adopter and technically savvy user stayed on site. There were barely any of these types of users and it would be impossible to run a maintainable profitable business by just catering to them. Therefore we can’t cater for them: we have to cater for the mass audience.

Many people will tell you of working in projects that spend all their savings mainly because they were constantly building solutions without testing whether or not there was a market large enough, or even a market remotely interested in buying into your product. These are the types of projects run by founders who reckon their startup is the next big thing because their parents liked the idea you pitched. Unless your product can survive with only your mother as a customer, you’re going to have to actually speak to and experiment (not in a weird way) with people whom you don’t know.

Most of the time, this means parking the ego, and just getting things shipped fast so that you can prove or disprove an assumption quickly and then move onto the next idea.

Jonathan is currently working on whichledlight.com as a Digital Designer. If you are an LJMU student or recent graduate with ambitions to start your own business, the Centre for Entrepreneurship is here to help you. You can follow us on Twitter or call 0151 231 3300 and we will guide you through the first steps to start-up.

photo credit: Anya Coates

Sixteen of us were handpicked to receive LJMU’s student exchange bursary to spend three weeks at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU).

A selection of Law, Business, Criminology and English majors travelled around Connecticut to discover a little about American Uni life, as well as the Constitution State.

Photo of the lovely SCSU campus

We were surprised to see that the university campuses you see in films in America are actually the reality at SCSU- the neat paths within a compact campus, a basketball court as well a full sized (American) football stadium next to it.

We explored SCSU’s older sibling Yale, the University’s grand art collection and the city of New Haven.

For many of us this was our first baseball game – Go Bluefish!

The following days and weeks were a whirlwind of trips. We visited the Business Expo in Hartford, took part in a poetry reading session with our one and only Andrew McMillan (lecturer in Liverpool Screen School), took a proper American hike to East Rock, spent a day at the beach (getting burnt), listened to a few lectures at our host university, went on a canoe trip, and we watch a baseball game – a first for most of our group. We also visited the state Police Academy and the Mark Twain house.

One of the highlights was meeting Dr Henry Lee, the world’s leading forensic scientist who gave us a lecture, and talked about his journey and some of the stuff he has achieved. One of the many things I took away from the charismatic Dr Lee was that you can do whatever you want; you just need to build a path to it.

Meeting Dr Henry Lee at the Henry Lee Institute

New Haven says its pizza is the best in the US, we found it “normal” Italian style… on the other hand we found something better: Great memories and friendships for life. Staying in the townhouses, interacting with the few students who were still on campus, just sitting and talking among ourselves, running around playing endless rounders or catch, the three weeks flew by and it was sadly time to head back home, but we will all be back at some point!

We’ve had a great time and I’d like to say a massive thank you to both universities for making this trip possible.

For any LJMU students reading this blog, I’d urge you to apply for this unique opportunity when it comes up again.

The first day of the workshops was dedicated to pitching, with the morning session a practice run for what was to come in the afternoon. The class was split into two groups, one preparing to pitch an idea for a game show around textures, and the other a reality show about men’s makeup and people’s reaction to them.

As a student attending the boot camp, it was fascinating to learn the stages of the pitch that ITV staff had to meticulously go through in order to get their idea commissioned: title and logline, pitch gimmick, blocking the commissioner, the pyramid of expectation, and the clincher. Each side of the class delivered well for their first time, especially since we were all pitching to John Whiston, who is the Managing Director for Continuing Drama in the North.

After the first test was over, we split into smaller groups, preparing to once again pitch to the ITV staff for a chance to go to Media City in Salford. Each group picked an idea for a television programme to pitch: a reality show about reality stars after their fame has ended, a drama about homelessness, a game show where a celebrity and normal person are handcuffed together, a drama about five women on a bus and their life stories, and my group’s idea, a true crime thriller which was given by Katrina Paterson, a third year Creative Writing student whose grandfather’s first wife had been murdered.

The pitches were given to the ITV staff, John Whiston heading the judging panel, along with: Ben Smith, a Development Producer who works on Popular Factual and Shiver; Matt Cleary, Emmerdale’s Head of Production; Jim Adnitt, Production Specialist; Nicky Gillham, the Creative Account Manager for Northern Productions and ITV Commercial; and AJ Read, the Publicity and Engagement Manager for ITV in the North.

Each of the pitches was impeccable but the ITV staff decided that the group who would be going to Media City were the ones who pitched the game show idea about a celebrity and normal person handcuffed together.

Creating stories for Corrie

On the second day, which was solely focused on storylining for Coronation Street, John Whiston and AJ Read were joined by Mark Bickerton, the Head of Editorial Engagement for Continuing Drama. He’s responsible for the huge Richard Hillman story on Coronation Street and the Cameron serial killer storyline on Emmerdale that we’ve all come to know so well.

The morning was structured as a typical storylining session identical to those they would have at ITV, each of us shouting ideas out and bouncing developments off one another.

“Our Coronation Street plot ideas included Craig developing bulimia, Tracey altering the breaks on Carla’s car in order to kill her, and Ken buying Audrey a puppy leading to Audrey expanding her salon to include dog grooming – called ‘Doggie Do’s’.”

The afternoon saw the class split into groups once more, this time told to pick a story from this week’s episodes and write the continuing storyline for each episode the following week. One group looked at Roy, Cathy and Alex, another three explored Carla and Nick, and my group took on the Platts, focusing in on Sarah and her erratic emotions concerning Callum’s murder and their baby together. Each of the ideas was pitched to the ITV staff, and from there more ideas were generated, giving us a real taste of what working at ITV would really be like.

AJ Read, the Publicity and Engagement Manager for ITV in the North, had this to say about the LJMU students:

‘It’s always a pleasure to go to Liverpool John Moores and this time the ITV team was even more impressed with the level of dedication, understanding and confidence from the students. We always intend to try and help students gain a better idea about the industry, but it’s an added bonus when they give us a run for our money with their ideas, pitches and storylining – there was some really professional and impressive work.  Well done once again, LJMU.’

This was a fantastic opportunity not only for myself and the other LJMU students to learn how to pitch and storyline, but also to create contacts with ITV staff, ones that hopefully can be maintained far into the future.

Visit the Liverpool Screen School website to find out more about their range of courses.

On 2 June St. George’s Hall accommodated the 140^th Roscoe Lecture, ‘Making Money do Good Things’, given by John Studzinski. Before the lecture began, Lord Alton, the man behind the Roscoe Lecture series, gave a touching speech about John, saying that, ‘John has insight, inspiration and what it means to be a good citizen… he puts his talent at the disposal of others… he is determined to improve himself and the world around him.’ The rest of Lord Alton’s speech listed John’s many achievements, including being named Banker of the Year in 2007 by the Bank of England, as well his involvement with the charities Genesis, Arise, and the Tate Foundation.

John’s lecture started by asking the audience, ‘What makes you angry?’ John’s anger about the things he perceives are wrong with the world drives him to help in a constructive manner. Instead of giving man a fish, he said we should teach that man how to fish: by giving people long-term solutions to problems, we can help them far more than if we give them a short-term solution.

He gave two very basic ideas here on how to do this. The first he called ‘Top Down’, which was the most obvious solution: to help a charity, or start your own, or donate money. The other one, the harder one, he called ‘Bottom Up’, which is when you start from the bottom, changing people’s lives for the better one person at a time, your efforts having a domino effect on others.

“John is a banker, but unlike other bankers, he gives not only his money away, but also his time and talent, which he says is what makes a person a philanthropist.”

He also talked a lot about Millennials, as he’s aware that these are the generation of people who are soon going to be leading the world. He views Millennials as an incredibly important group, as they have realised that both their time and money is precious but they’re still going to make the effort to help others and become philanthropists because of the way the world is changing. He described this using what he calls the six Ts:

• Time – Our ability to focus on and harness it
• Talent – Our abilities that we were born with or have developed

Even with only these two Ts, John made sure to point out that you can do a lot with time and talent alone. You may not be able to do much, it may only amount to a drop in the ocean, but it’s better than nothing.

• Treasure – You don’t need this to change the world, but it certainly helps
• Temperature – As in what makes your blood boil, what makes you angry, and how you’re going to fix it
• Testimony – How we share our feelings, passions, beliefs, and interests, and how much conviction we have to see a solution through to the end
• Technology – Young people are the ones that have power over technology as they grew up with it, so it’s up to them to help the world using it

When I interviewed John, I asked what made him want to give away his money and his time when he could very easily keep it all to himself. He told me that philanthropy was part of his culture and it’s what he grew up with, that it wasn’t something he had one day decided to do, but that he felt he needed to do it all the way through his life. He told me a story from when he was six years old and how fundamental he thought it was to go and help out at a soup kitchen.

The point that John re-iterated over and over is that we can all make a difference. It’s easy to think that there are seven billion people on the planet, that what you do, whether good or bad, isn’t going to have any effect. It might not affect everyone, but it will affect someone, even if that someone is just one person, and even if that one person is you.

Read more about John Studzinski’s lecture on LJMU news, and to book for upcoming lectures in 2016 visit the Roscoe Lectures pages.

International Journalism student Paul Greenough

The 2016 LJMU Degree Show houses countless final year projects with subjects covering Fashion, Graphic Design and Illustration, Spatial Design, Fine Art and Architecture. The soon-to-be graduates’ projects are, of course, completed to a highly professional standard and have depth and meaning with recyclable and sustainable materials being used, political and social issues being raised and artistic direction shaping opinion.

Within architecture, we saw many of the projects focusing on the greener side of building design. Several pieces showed a keen interest in using sustainable materials in their architecture as well as having created projects to help those in need.

For instance, Lewys Taylor created a People Feed The People concept, described as a ‘vertical urban farming tower’: a high-rise cylindrical structure, with many different layers to cultivate, preserve and teach people how to grow food, ultimately helping solve the growing international food crisis.

Fine Art was interesting. Hanging sheets, painted with colours and shapes, a dark room, scarce lighting and ominous sounds playing in the background. It said something, but precisely what it said is of course open to interpretation, as all art is.

Spatial Design: I wasn’t sure what that even meant. I gathered upon entering the exhibition that it was exactly what it says on the tin. Design of space. Architecture focusing on the effect of using space efficiently. The most interesting of the pieces was a Tardis-like monument – a time-travel machine.

Rebecca Duckett’s Time Travel Machine

Unfortunately, after attempting to climb in and press a few buttons, I realised that a scientific breakthrough hadn’t occurred here at LJMU; it was in fact merely a beautiful concept. The reason this one jumped out at me – other than the fact I had recently watched Interstellar and was in a wave of space-time euphoria – was the boldness of creating something which is unlikely, in our lifetime at least, to ever be used, to ever be a reality, to be anything other than a kitsch and funny idea. But it worked.

As well as this, there was a building shaped almost like a human brain – whether this was intentional I don’t know. This was a mobile exhibition on mental health awareness. I thought this was a fantastic concept. A fully interactive exhibition that allows the user to explore and discover the various implications of mental health conditions. And as I said, it is mobile, so it can help to educate as many people as possible. Brilliant.

Designs by Megan Harvey

Fashion was bright and beautiful. Designers used shape, form, fabric and unconventional ideas to create unique designs which still had a clear influence in the history of fashion.

With one-shoulder skater dresses using clashing prints and colours, and kimonos using different fabrics to create texture and dimension, and some dresses which looked like fashionable straight-jackets, these designs came from a place of knowledge and vision, past and future, tradition and progression.

The exhibition I enjoyed the most was Graphic Design, featuring everything from a picture of a zombified Ariana Grande to a project on the Zika Virus, to a video collection of uncomfortable, trippy, other-worldly flashing colours, images and harsh sounds. This exhibition was a feast for the senses.

An interesting piece that stood out was Existential Threats, by Rachael Fletcher. Laser cut dioramas showing the negative effects of global warming on the planet. A single polar bear standing on a melting patch of ice, a volcano surrounded by grey trees, and fish showing the impact that carbon emissions can have on the creatures of the sea.

Kay Dale’s Sweet Prince

One piece which was possibly my favourite was titled Sweet Prince, by Kay Dale. A cartoonish and nightmarish Prince tribute, done in a style which reminded me of the cover art for Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap.

All of the exhibitions showed an amazing amount of creativity and professionalism. I was blown away by the level of thought and detail that went into every project. There is something there for everyone to appreciate and enjoy.

I would advise anyone who gets a chance to visit this; it’s free too which is always a bonus, plus you get to witness some of the early designs by some of the future’s great artists. And they all started off here at LJMU.

The Liverpool School of Art and Design Degree Show is open 10am-6pm from 26 May until 10 June, in the John Lennon Art and Design Building.

Creative Writing student Hazel Clarke

The Art and Design Degree Show showcases the works of final year students, featuring a wide range of subjects, including architecture, fashion, fine art, history of art, spatial design and graphic design and illustration.

In the Architecture exhibit, there was a running theme of spherical designs. First, there was an innovative model for a house with a spherical outdoor decoration by Michalis Malekkidis. The two innovative designs that struck me the most however were Lewys Taylor’s People Feed the People and Aimee Cornelius’ New Brighton Nirvana: From Fragments to Harmony.

Lewys Taylor’s People Feed the People

Taylor’s design featured a cylindrical tower block with sections jutting out, purpose-built to address the need to increase food production within urban areas. Cornelius’ structure was similar in design but was used as a building that was the last resort in a poor seaside town, a shadow of its former self. These two complementary designs exhibit different ideas for the future of humanity’s survival through architectural design. Taylor’s model conveys optimism for the future of the human race, whereas Cornelius’ interpretation of the same theme conveys a contrasting pessimism.

The spherical structure was carried through into the Graphic Design and Illustration exhibit with Andy Broken’s Experimental Pattern piece and Abigail Scott’s New Scientist design, which featured a circle that highlighted evolution and colour perception within humans and animals, through the rainbow spectrum; multicolours were also used in Jamie Monkman’s Scratching the Surface, which explored the impact of visual inspiration that can be found by looking a little closer at immediate and familiar surroundings.

Jamie Monkman’s Scratching the Surface (detail)

The Graphic Design and Illustration exhibit also had a parallel theme of politics. In Liv Foster’s Big A Little A, the pieces designed were intended to be an accompaniment to the song of the same name criticising Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister, as well as Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Roslyn Crossley’s typographic pieces, titled Oh Jeremy, were a direct opposition to Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, as Crossley sided with the junior doctors. Another political piece was exhibited by Rachael Fletcher, Existential Threats, which explored the negative effects of global warming on the world’s most stunning environments, beautifully executed with laser-cut card and foam board.

Rachael Fletcher’s Existential Threats

The entire show also took a lot of inspiration from other cultures, including Japanese. One set that stood out were Abigail Scott’s illustrations Kawaii Desu, which featured her own designs inspired by the Japanese subculture of Lolita fashion. Other exhibitors looked at South Korean and Chinese influences on present day fashion.

Abigail Scott’s Kawaii Desu

Beautiful exhibits, well displayed, showing a wealth of both research and experimentalism, suggests an overall positive future for the students from the Liverpool School of Art and Design.

The Liverpool School of Art and Design Degree Show is open 10am-6pm from 26 May until 10 June, in the John Lennon Art and Design Building.

After studying for my undergraduate degree in Criminology at Liverpool John Moores University I left and went straight in to the world of work hoping I’d fall straight in to my dream job; however that didn’t happen, because I didn’t know what I was looking for.

I searched for my vocation, and it was after taking a wonderful job for The Prince’s Trust, helping the most marginalised young people in Merseyside, that I found my passion in supporting people who are finding it difficult to manage in society. The role helped people to build their personal social development skills and provide them with the confidence to go back to education or employment.

A restructure of the programme meant that we had to reapply for our jobs and I used that opportunity to explore my options. I felt ready for a change, so I attended a graduate fair for LJMU and spoke to one of the lecturers who taught on the MA Social Work course. I was lucky that although I was late enquiring, there were still funded places left (as that was another issue altogether, I didn’t have any savings to be able to fund the course!), due to a restructure of the course length and change in start date. I felt my luck was in.

The course was made up of people of all ages, some mature (like myself at the grand age of 26!) and others who were fresh-faced and had stayed on from their undergraduate degree. It felt very different to my undergraduate degree where I’d started straight from Sixth Form and my priority was less about the work and more about being a social butterfly, fully absorbed in the student nightlife culture!

“I have no doubt that coming back to study was one of the best decisions I’ve made”

This time round the social events were few and far between and group WhatsApp messages consisted of ‘have you discussed the children act in your assignment?’ or ‘can someone proof read my assignment for me?’ There just isn’t the time as people have very different commitments – children and rent and mortgages – so most of the course involved having to fit working evenings and weekends around university and a full-time placement. Despite the hard work and commitments I have no doubt that coming back to study was one of the best decisions I’ve made. I’m excited to see what opportunities lie ahead with the finish line in sight, knowing I’ve built up a wealth of experience and knowledge from both the course and my working life.

Visit the LJMU website to find out more about the MA Social Work, other courses available in the School of Nursing and Allied Health, or to chat to us about returning to education, including drop-in events throughout the year.

Women account for 30% of the workforce in the sport coaching profession, a figure which drops to 12% for highly qualified coaches.  Many organisations such as Sports Coach UK and campaigns such as This Girl Can are keen to address this imbalance and encourage more women into careers in sport coaching.

Leah Weaver’s talent for coaching was recognised at an early age: she was first employed by Everton Football Club at 14 after her coaching skills were spotted while undertaking her BTEC Sports Diploma, and delivered ‘mini kicker’ sessions for 4-8 year olds as part of the club’s ‘Everton in the community’ activities. She has since been employed in a variety of roles coaching school-aged children, including children with special educational needs, in various schools across Merseyside.

While studying at LJMU Leah has also taken her coaching skills to Namibia, where she volunteered as a team leader as part of the UK Sport initiative International Development through Excellence and Leadership in Sport (IDEALS) Project.  Six students went with her and undertook grassroots coaching in disadvantaged townships, developing activities including HIV/Aids awareness-raising through sports participation, using the ball to represent a virus during a carefully constructed game.

“Children were playing football with a bag of rice in a sock; this was considered organised sport in Namibia and they were benefiting so much from it. In the UK we can sometimes be restricted by court hire charges or health and safety regulations but in Namibia it was accessible to all – we can learn a lot from that”

For Leah, the trips to Namibia have really demonstrated how sport can enhance lives. She’s dedicated to her voluntary role as head coach for the LJMU women’s football team and expects the same dedication from the team; to support her coaching and MSc Sport Coaching studies, she works 6pm-3am in a call centre five days a week.

Leah noticed areas where the women needed to improve and introduced additional training such as a fitness session. Due to the busy schedules of members of the team, the training sessions were introduced at 9-10pm on a Monday evening, when many of us would be winding down at home for the evening.

The late evening sessions have clearly paid off as while Leah has been coaching the women’s football team at LJMU they have gone from strength to strength: the first team made it to the final of the British Universities and College Sport (BUCS) cup for the first time and in 2013-14 the LJMU second team won their league. This success is undoubtedly down to the commitment demonstrated by the women on the team, something which Leah emphasises is her preference over skill, and her sheer talent and dedication as a coach.

Leah would like to encourage more women into coaching and remarks, “In my whole time coaching women’s football in the university leagues, I’ve never actually met another female football coach. It’s always been males coaching the female teams. There should be more of a balance”.

Driven by the desire to positively influence lives through sport, whether it be through learning teamwork or decision-making skills through sport, Leah hopes to raise awareness of public health issues and improving overall health and fitness levels in individuals. This is the key thing she will be looking at gaining from her coaching career when she completes her PhD, which she plans to undertake in 2017.

“I’m hopeful that more females will get involved with sports that are currently male-dominated – whether it be coaching them or participating in them. The televising of the women’s super league was a step forward but we still have much more progress to make”

Leah is passionate about what she does, and it shows in the results she achieves both academically and on the field. We are sure that she will continue to make a positive difference to the lives of others through her sport coaching activities and hope that she can inspire more women to considering coaching careers.

Find out more about sport coaching courses in the School of Sport Studies, Leisure and Nutrition.

It’s April and spring is finally here as I walk to the Byrom Street campus on a sunny morning. April also means exams are looming for undergraduates and cramming in as much revision as possible. I’m a postgraduate doing a PhD in parasitology/nematology so I don’t have exams to worry about any more but I remember the foreboding exam season brought with it all too well.

I started at LJMU on a Biology BSc in 2011 when I was already classed as a mature student and have stayed on to do my PhD here too. And by mature I mean recently passed a milestone birthday with a zero. When I first started I did have some reservations; on my first day we were filling in forms and the student sitting next to me put his DoB as the same year I did my GCSEs, and I have had lecturers who are younger than me. However, there were quite a few other mature students in my cohort and we gravitated towards each other – we are still good friends to this day.

Being a mature student brings its own challenges, affordability being a big one. Before I returned to continue my education I had a pretty good job in London so there was a big wage drop and a relocation to consider: how would I fund myself without being able to work full-time? I tried working part-time at my job in London, which I was lucky enough to be able to do – one day a week in the office and the rest of my part-time hours at home – but that weekly commute was financially draining and eventually it wasn’t really viable, so I took the plunge and left my job. Liverpool’s a very affordable city, and there are lots of opportunities to work that fit with being a student. I eventually got a job that paid quite well where I only had to work in the weekday evenings and it was geared specifically for students, so I put my time management skills to good use to fit in coursework, lectures and a paying job.

I have found as a mature student that you are more dedicated to what you are doing, and the time you have spent away from education means you build up a set of skills and experience that are invaluable as a student, such as being able to analyse what information is relevant from large swathes of text, good report-writing skills and of course good time-keeping, plus I’m much less likely to be suffering after a night out! In short you are the type of student that universities want and lecturers love to have in their classes.

You might be asking, why, if I had a good job in London did I want to go to university and one 200 miles away from where I lived and worked? Well, those were questions I asked myself quite often as an undergrad when I was in the library, trying to get my statistics right, out doing field work in the rain and wind, or under pressure at exam season and thinking ‘Why have I subjected myself to this?’.

The answer is that regardless of the different pressures it beats working in a job you don’t enjoy! I didn’t have a job I loved, so deciding to take the plunge and work towards a future in a field that I was passionate and enthusiastic about was a decision that I have no regrets about at all.

Find out more about returning to education on the website or contact the Outreach team on outreach@ljmu.ac.uk / 0151 904 6384/6385 / @LJMUOutreach. For information on biology and related courses visit the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology.